French General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, arrived at Newport in July 1780 with thousands of French ground and naval forces to assist the Americans in the War for Independence. After wintering in Newport, his troops marched through Connecticut to join General George Washington's Continental Army just over the New York border, then moved down the eastern seaboard to confront Lieutenant General Earl Cornwallis and the British army at Yorktown, Virginia. Following a prolonged siege, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781, virtually ending the war and ensuring American independence. In Bolton and Andover, prominent local residents opened their homes and fields to Rochambeau and his army as they passed through Connecticut. French troops camped in the fields of what is now Rose Farm on Bolton Center Road, land that belonged in 1781 to Reverend George Cotton, and Rochambeau stayed overnight in the Cotton home on June 21, 1781, the first night of the encampment. Rochambeau and other officers also stayed at Daniel White's Tavern on what is now Hutchinson Road in Andover, which was used throughout the army's encampment from June 21 to 24, 1781, on the march south and again between November 4 and 5, 1782, after the battle of Yorktown. Many officers also stayed at Oliver White's Tavern at the intersection of Brandy Street and Bolton Center Road. Daniel White's Tavern was a frequent stop for Rochambeau, hosting him in May 1781 on his way to and from an important conference with General George Washington in Wethersfield and again in December 1782 on his journey to Newburgh, New York, to bid farewell to Washington after the war.